Smog Holidays, Water Dumping Pollution Fixes Create Their Own Problems in Tehran

To deal with severe air pollution, the government of Tehran began issuing "smog holidays, where government offices, schools, banks, factories and other sites were ordered to shut for the day."

"This has become the main method of dealing with the air pollution, and in 2010 Tehran has 80 smog holidays."

"Another method of combating the growing pollution has been to drop thousands of litres of water from small planes across the city. Each plane carries approximately 2000 litres of water, and about 30 flights are done everyday, releasing about 60,000 litres of water."

"Other measures such as increasing the green cover in Tehran and the number of parks, as well as restricting the entry of cars into the city by number plate and suburb have been initiated but they are too small to make a big difference."

Implications:
Smog holidays are "resulting in a major financial hit to the city, as each smog holiday is estimated to cause USD130 million in financial losses in a country already gasping under a stumbling economy. In 2011, the number of smog holidays could potentially increase, especially in the fall weather and later half of the year, when air inversion is at the highest."

Water dropping "might provide temporary relief, it is not a sustainable method in the long term as it will affect the countries water resources."